In conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, an excitation source emits radio frequency (RF) pulses during an excitation phase to excite the spins of MR-relevant nuclei in a particular region of a body (e.g., human body, non-human animal body, etc.) so that the spins themselves become sources of an RF signal. During the reception phase, the RF signals from the spins (e.g., free induction decay (FID) signals) may be measured, and the measurements may be used to generate one or more images with respect to the particular body region. Because the RF pulses (during the excitation phase) are of relatively high field strength, mechanisms are applied to detune the receiver coil during the excitation phase to protect the circuitry used in the reception phase. Such mechanisms may, for example, include pin diodes or switches, such as high-power FET (field-effect transistor) devices, HEMT (high-electron-mobility transistor) devices, etc., where control signals are used to toggle the states of these devices in real-time. In a typical MRI system, these control signals are routed to the receiver coil via cables from the excitation coil or a signal processing unit housed outside the magnet (or other excitation source), and the excitation and reception coils are connected to the signal processing unit via coaxial cables. To achieve better image quality or shorten the acquisition time, it is desirable to increase the number of receiver coils, but the increase typically results in increased cabling, which typically results in significant system complexity and costs for a conventional MRI system. These and other drawbacks exist.